Europe: Yet another press conference for Jenson

By Phil Huff (30/05/2004)
May 31 2004

Seven races and five podiums - Jenson's getting used to the post-race press conference now. Here's what he had to say after the European Grand Prix.

Jenson, this is your fifth podium position of the year. It is getting to be a habit.

It is. This one was a little bit more lucky than the others. Takuma, obviously, drove a great race up until the moment where he lost his front wing but I had a pretty tough race because after the first two pit stops I came out in traffic with cars on the same lap as me so I had to get past them and it was pretty tough. It is pretty tough overtaking here. I was able to do that but it cost me a lot of time.

You would include David Coulthard in the traffic there and you eventually got him on the outside of the first corner.

Yeah, he made a bit of a mistake on the last corner of the circuit and I was able to get him into turn one on the outside which is pretty brave, I suppose, on the outside, but I had to get past because he was slowing me down by almost two seconds a lap so we were struggling.

What are your thoughts on the weekend? Obviously Taku got a little bit more out of the car in qualifying. Is that what made the difference for you?

He had a very clean lap in qualifying. I don’t know if I was over-driving or what, but I just felt like I had very low grip. And it shows, you know, if you are starting at the front it really can help your race position. But, as I said, he drove a good race and it is obviously a pity for him.

Jenson, you were fourth at the end of the first lap, what did you see of that very lively first lap?

First of all Takuma was in second position and then they got into turn four and I think Jarno – or one of the Renaults – was down the inside of him and he turned in and they both ended up going wide and Kimi was able to get into second place.

And what about your own first lap?

My own first lap wasn’t that good. I was surprised to see Rubens able to get past me off the grid. My line for the first corner was to be on the outside and brake as late as I could to get as many cars as I could round the outside. But Rubens was in the way so it was a little bit difficult.

How was the car after that?

The car wasn’t to bad but the problem was that we were all stuck in a train behind Kimi, which I am sure helped Rubens as well because the cars at the front weren’t able to pull away at all. As soon as he pitted the car felt very good but the problem was that after my first two pit stops I came out in traffic that was doing two stops, I think, and I struggled to get past them.

And then you were pushing at the end?

Yeah, at the end the car felt very good. There was a little bit of oversteer on the exit to the corners and apart from that the car was good. But, you know, I’m trying to conserve the engine as well, as well as pushing, so it’s quite difficult but when I got to the last lap I knew I couldn’t catch Rubens so I backed off.

You say you were conserving the engine - was that because of Takuma’s problems?

It’s quite normal at the end of a race. It’s normal for most teams, but obviously we’re doing it more than normal because of Takuma’s problems?

Is there a reason that these things happen to him and not to you?

I’m not sure. The strange thing is that it happened immediately after his pit stop, after his fourth pit stop because of the wing problems, so I don’t really know. He drove a very good race and he was very, very fast. But one mistake like that can cost you the race.

Jenson, last year Kimi was able to take the championship down to the wire, despite having won only one race all season. With the current points system rewarding consistency over winning that many races, is the championship something that you’re allowing yourself to think about or not?

Michael hadn’t won six races last year by now, so that obviously makes a big difference and the way it’s going at the moment it’s going to be very, very difficult for anybody to challenge except for Rubens.

Jenson, today was a horrible day for McLaren. You were held up at the beginning by Kimi and then later on for a long time by David. I wonder if you could give us and perhaps McLaren some indications of where their car is lacking. Is it brakes, cornering, acceleration, over the bumps, whatever?

I don’t want to help them too much, but you can see the car’s difficult to drive. DC was having lots of problems keeping the car in the right place on the circuit and that’s the only reason I could get past. I don’t think I would have got past if he didn’t make any mistakes.

You mentioned you were held up quite badly in traffic at the pit stops. Do you think you would have been able to push Rubens harder for second? Do you think second was achievable had that not happened?

Well, if Taku was still in the race I don’t think I would have had a chance because he was obviously in front and it is very difficult to overtake here, especially when you’re driving the same car. I really don’t know. There are so many things that could have happened in the race. There’s no reason to comment really.